Journeys give us lots of time to reflect. Getting to your destination is also a time to reflect on your journey.
Our co-director, Gaurav ‘G’ Dave, got the official word in July. He’s now a Research Professor in the UNC School of Medicine.
Promotions can be destinations. For G, it’s part of an ongoing journey. His focus is working with community partners to address adverse social conditions that hinder optimal disease management.
“My community and research partners should receive equal credit for all our accolades and awards,” G said. The credit for his recent achievement is for them. “I’m not the superstar in my story. I may be in the lead role, but there are many other superstars,” he said.
Getting to medical school
G grew up in India. That’s also where he finished medical school in 2002. The parts in between weren’t always smooth, though.
Various challenges in his early life sometimes made it hard to see a path forward. G said he couldn’t always be sure about some of life’s basics. Challenges, though, kept him grounded.
His recent achievement brings him back to his roots: gratitude to “so many people” who “supported his life in different ways.” He said, “This promotion is more ‘personal achievement’ than professional.”
Coming to the US and getting to UNC
G came to the US in 2004. In 2011, he joined UNC. In 2014, he became a faculty in the Department of Medicine.
He received his first R01 award in 2020 – which aimed to integrate medical and social care through robust clinic-community networks in rural eastern North Carolina. This project led him to work with community-academic coalitions like Project GRACE (Growing, Reaching, and Advocating for Community Empowerment). He credits Project GRACE with helping him get where he is today.
“Without Project GRACE, we [CHER] would not be where we are. They closely work with us in planning and implementing programs in their communities,” G said.
In 2016, G joined CHER. He’s worked on more than 50 projects with the Center. He is the founder and director of ‘Abacus Evaluation’ – a Research Service Center at the UNC School of Medicine. Abacus provides program evaluation and data solution services to clients within and outside UNC.
G is a CHER co-director, leading five federally-funded projects as a principal investigator.
Support at UNC
Since joining UNC and CHER, G has passed other milestones. In 2019, he became an Associate Professor.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic response pushed CHER to grow. G helped support new grants that focused on reaching hard-hit communities.
In response to his promotion, his colleagues have echoed his reflections.
Giselle Corbie, CHER co-director, said, “This is richly deserved – I’m so honored to have been on the sidelines watching G’s impressive trajectory.” G describes Corbie as moving from “mentor to colleague to friend” as they’ve walked together over the last eight years.
Rachel Quinto, CHER Associate Director for Operations, has known G for the last eight years. She said, “It’s been amazing to witness G’s journey. I met him when he was an Assistant Professor – it’s impressive to reflect on his milestones, growth and impact!”
Overall, G said he’s “so happy” about this promotion and reminded us that it has always been the people walking with him who are the true superstars.